Feel free to discuss as you'd like. First, the rules I discussed in the first post:

1a. Time starts when the player gains control, or when the player hits the "1P" button, and ends when the player defeats the final boss, or when the player finishes the game and terminates the recording... either of which I can use an opinion on.
1b. If the arcade game uses a timer and it moves at a constant rate, that particular timer can be used. (I.E. Neo Drift Out's timer can be used, but Super Mario Brothers 3's timer cannot... the later slows down when you use the P)

2. If nobody finishes the game, the person who goes the farthest, in number of stages, wins. If a tie exists there, the person who completes the last stage completed in the fastest time wins.

3a. After the first competition (where I will choose the game), the winner picks the next game, provided it's a different genre of the last game. (So no OutRun followed by Neo Drift Out, or something like that.)
*** This is pending what we're going to do about having a series of competitions... ***
3b. No picking games that go on forever (like Galaga, level D) or finish in a nearly constant time period. (like Pac-Man) However, considering a game finished after a certain number of levels would be allowed (like you "beat the game" in the two examples mentioned after ten levels, for instance)

4. If you choose the game, you can win that competition, but you can't choose the next game. (that means you can't choose games for two competitions in a row) *** Also pending a determination of using a series or not ***

Newly introduced rules now...

5. A competition will last 10, 15, or 20 days, depending on how long a game is expected to be completed in. This will be determined by the person selecting the game. While there will be no mandatory mandate on length of contest, here's some recommended guidelines, based on the average of the length of completion of each game:
0-1 hours: 10 days
1-2 hours: 15 days
2+ hours: 20 days
If it's borderline, it's suggested to use the higher value.

And now the controversial rules.

6. Continues are allowed if the arcade game allows it. Why? You'll lose time between games and losing lives anyway for the most part. However, we may assess time penalties, especially if you advance between the end of the previous game and the beginning of the next game.

7. No 48-hour rule. Why? It doesn't work. It's just as easy to get around that rule as getting 10,000 points in Pac-Man, really. HOWEVER, I've got some ways to avoid delay tactics...

8. In relation to rule 7, if anybody submits a FIRST-PLACE INP within the final six hours of a recording period, the competition will be extended to six hours beyond that particular recording.
EXAMPLE: (deadline is 0000 GMT)
a. Player A submits a first-place recording at 2230 GMT. The competition will be extended to 0430 GMT.
b. Player B then submits a first-place recording at 0120 GMT. It was before the deadline because of the 2230 GMT submission. The competition will now be extended to 0720 GMT.
c. Player B submits an even better high-score at 0400 GMT. The competition is now extended to 1000 GMT, even if Player B was the last person to submit a first-place recording.
d. Player A counters with a second-place recording at 0800 GMT. The competition will NOT be extended, because it was not a first-place recording.
e. Player A now submits a first-place recording at 1003 GMT. This doesn't count, because it was after the extended deadline.

This may be a bit confusing to start, but this is a renovation to discourage delay tactics. It's also an experiment for sure... but I'm thinking that it might work a lot better than what we have now. I think it's also going to encourage "battling" - something that's been mostly taken away from many tournaments.

Again, feel free to discuss anything I've written. A test round will begin on the 3rd of January.

gameboy9 wrote:
6. Continues are allowed if the arcade game allows it. Why? You'll lose time between games and losing lives anyway for the most part. However, we may assess time penalties, especially if you advance between the end of the previous game and the beginning of the next game.

8. In relation to rule 7, if anybody submits a FIRST-PLACE INP within the final six hours of a recording period, the competition will be extended to six hours beyond that particular recording.

6. I disagree. because continue can be used for pass level without technics.
Exemple : in many shooting games, we pass boss faster with only bombs and continue than with normal play.

8. Excellent, no more snipes in the last seconds of competition. It will be cool to include this rule in T8

For a couple games you refer to above, like pacman, your time type score really wouldn't work. That would simply come down to who has the fastest board clearing patterns. Score wouldn't matter in yours.

For a pacman type score, you should perhaps consider doing something like a 10 minute game. Play as far in the game as you can, 10 minutes....your score at the 10 minute mark is your score for the contest.

Your time to complete or reach a particular goal only works with some games. It's more suited for games where it takes more skill to complete faster, and where score means little to nothing...like Super Mario Brothers.

...so consider it from both angles....your angle of time of completion....and the other angle of a set time to play the game.

centtime shows a great example of this... centipede...3 minute game...highest score you can get in 3 minutes. It's fun competition.

Good point. Still, my goal is for as many people to complete the game as possible. However... we surely can't let them take advantage of the continue that actually might benefit them in time.

How about this for a compromise: every continue you use will result in a time penalty of up to... say... three minutes? I'd let the person choosing the game figure out that penalty...

LN2:

Maybe we should let this issue up to the people choosing the game? So if somebody *really* wanted to play Pac-Man, he would have that option of putting a time limit on instead of setting a limited number of stages which would result in "completion". Chad was talking about truncating the INP to a ten minute game...